Creationism theme park to open in 2014

Beshear announces creationism theme park to open in 2014, with $250 million impact

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Steve Beshear said Wednesday that a creationism theme park, expected to open in Northern Kentucky in 2014, would have a $250 million annual impact on the state’s economy.

Ark Encounter, which will feature a 500-foot-long wooden replica of Noah’s Ark containing live animals such as juvenile giraffes, is projected to cost $150 million and create 900 jobs, Beshear announced at a Capitol press conference. “Make no mistake about it, this is a huge deal,” he said. The park, to be located on 800 acres in Grant County off Interstate 75, also will include a Walled City, live animal shows, a replica of the Tower of Babel, a 500-seat special-effects theater, an aviary and a first-century Middle Eastern village.

It’s expected to draw 1.6 million visitors a year. Park developers are seeking state tourism development incentives and could receive up to $37.5 million over a 10-year period. The project is a collaboration between Ark Encounters LLC, a for-profit company in Springfield, Mo., and Answers in Genesis, a non-profit organization that runs the Creation Museum in Boone County.

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Beshear announces creationism theme park to open in 2014, with $250 million impact

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Steve Beshear said Wednesday that a creationism theme park, expected to open in Northern Kentucky in 2014, would have a $250 million annual impact on the state’s economy.

Ark Encounter, which will feature a 500-foot-long wooden replica of Noah’s Ark containing live animals such as juvenile giraffes, is projected to cost $150 million and create 900 jobs, Beshear announced at a Capitol press conference.
“Make no mistake about it, this is a huge deal,” he said.
The park, to be located on 800 acres in Grant County off Interstate 75, also will include a Walled City, live animal shows, a replica of the Tower of Babel, a 500-seat special-effects theater, an aviary and a first-century Middle Eastern village.
It’s expected to draw 1.6 million visitors a year.
Park developers are seeking state tourism development incentives and could receive up to $37.5 million over a 10-year period.
The project is a collaboration between Ark Encounters LLC, a for-profit company in Springfield, Mo., and Answers in Genesis, a non-profit organization that runs the Creation Museum in Boone County.
Ark Encounters plans to build the park and Answers and Genesis plans to operate it.
The tax incentives have sparked debate among experts on church-state issues as to whether they would violate the constitutional ban on the establishment of religion by government.
“Evangelism is not just another business, and if the business is evangelism then constitutional rules are quite different than if you are subsidizing the opening of a new beauty salon,” said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.
Lynn said that once the incentives are official, his organization would decide whether to sue.
Edwin Kagin, a Northern Kentucky lawyer who is the national legal director for the group American Atheists, said he doesn’t think there are grounds for a suit because the tax incentives law doesn’t discriminate.
Beshear also said he does not believe the incentives would violate the principle of church-state separation because the 14-year-old tax incentives law wasn’t approved for the purpose of benefiting the Ark Encounter.

“We have reviewed this from a legal standpoint and if the application complies with our laws there is nothing remotely unconstitutional about a for-profit organization coming in and investing $150 million to create jobs in Kentucky and bring tourism to Kentucky,” he said.
When asked if he would hold a similar press conference if a Muslim- or atheist-themed park were planned, Beshear said, “Whatever groups want to come in here and talk about investing and creating tourist attractions, we are certainly open to talking with them.”
Under the tourism law, developers can recover up to 25 percent of the cost of a project. The state returns to developers the sales tax paid by visitors on admission tickets, food, gift sales and lodging costs. Developers have 10 years to reach the 25 percent threshold.
Another legal question about the project is whether park operators could discriminate on the basis of religion when hiring workers, a practice already in place at the Creation Museum.

Hey job creation is good...look at it this way...trying to fit in all the animals is going to open the eyes of many people,(I can picture Johnny asking Mommy :"but where are the (.......)?" fill in the blank); let alone trying to figure out the logistics, effluent removal, smell etc. I think this park could do much for realism if not atheism.

By the way I trust that Beshear knows his Bible: Genesis 7:2 "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female."

Would the writer of this please provide us with his credentials regarding evolutionary theory?

As Michael Meadon says in his excellent article in : http://ionian-enchantment.blogspot.com/2010/02/in-praise-of-deference_03.html

"Thinking you are entitled to an opinion without paying your dues is the very epitome of intellectual arrogance. And it is especially arrogant – mind-bogglingly so – for a non-expert to have opinions that contradict the consensus of the tens of thousands of intelligent, diligent and dedicated people who have spent decades studying, debating, doing research on and thinking deeply about their respective disciplines. The bottom line: be an expert, defer, or suspend judgment. (To be clear: I’m making an epistemic and not a political claim. People have a right of free speech and conscience, so they can form and express any opinion they like. But that doesn’t mean they have an intellectual warrant to do so).

...and further in the same post:

"The last word goes to the great Bertrand Russell:
The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. So long as men are not trained to withhold judgment in the absence of evidence, they will be led astray by cocksure prophets, and it is likely that their leaders will be either ignorant fanatics or dishonest charlatans. To endure uncertainty is difficult, but so are most of the other virtues."

These are only a few things that I have to say about this right now....trust me, there is a lot more.

"Don’t take a scientists word for it and don’t take a theologian’s word for it." ...ok, then why do you take you're religious doctrine's word for it? you couldn't have done the homework because you cant even express logically that you even understand how evolution works.

when you can beleive something without any information behind it at all, over something that has been tested with trial and error and makes more sense then just falling out of the sky....you're beyond hope.

"many of them not only castigated Christians for doing something like this..." Oh and us "atheists, liberals, and agnostics" are never oppressed?

"you would think after the billions of years that scientists have said that evolution has been occurring, we would see something far more substantial than the evolution of bacteria." ....you haven't been paying attention have you?

"what stands out are any number of hoaxes and downright frauds that scientists have attempted to perpetrate on the world, in the hopes of garnering respect for the religion of evolution."...religion of evolution? wow, a scientific theory is a religion...you are so deluded. at least we are looking for the truth enough to make mistakes, the only reason you dont make mistakes with you're theory is because you gave up on looking for the truth.

you wonder why we take offense? you wonder why we are frustrated? you wonder why we actually use a method to our thought process??? this letter is exactly why. it's people like you that wont budge no mater what. science is ever changing moving forward with the information that we find. it's ignorant people like you that dont beleive in any other possibility and are stuck in you're ignorant ways.

the bible said that when the earth was completely flooded, god sent a great wind to blow it off of the earth....if a wind can blow all of that water off of the earth, how the hell was Noah still alive??? must have been a miracle.

You can tell this person doesn't even understand what fossil evidence we have. they seemed to enjoy pointing out our mistakes, but what do they have? just faith based on what someone told them.

if evolution leaves people valueless, and we are no more different then animals, how is you're morals that come from the bible which are incomplete and irrelevant make you any different? the difference is, morals come from life experience and logic.

"Pascal’s Wager is merely a philosophical argument that proves nothing." you think pascals wager is in you're favor? I hate to tell you but pascal's wager exists to contradict you.

if you need god to live you're life to the fullest, have substance and morals.. you're doing it wrong.

I thought this was an "Onion" article when I read the heading. I had a look at the creation museam. Did someone spike my drink ? Next The Ark Park. I will go there for sure - with a sackful of woodpeckers. Thanks for posting - it is so funny. Then is read this - please make them stop - my sides are sore.

Ha! I know what God did. He used sperm all neatly stored in a sperm bank. Only problem is what did he do when they exited the Ark? No females around to AI.

Now the water needs. For some 9 months they had water for all the ephelants, hippopamami, giraffe, T Rex's (oops) and so on! Let's see if the Ark to be built has its own integrated water supply...no lines and plumbing allowed Sen Beshear! or Lt Col Zovath otherwise you are cheating...but then that would not be the first time you guys cheated now would it?

That's an awful lot of money to spend. It could be better spent on improving the lives of people and creating clean energy jobs. Or, it could be spend on a non-religiously themed amusement park. That is just what we need - more stupidity in this country. Creation Museum + Noah's Ark Park = Fundamentalist Mecca. They'll be making pilgrimages to the place in droves. Oh well, at least I don't live in Kentucky.

Seriously now. What about an evolution-theme park right next to The Ark funded by Bill Gates (he's an atheist) Dawkins, Hitchens and co. Tour groups can then decide which 'his-story' is more plausible, based on fact, etc etc. School groups will get a better broad-based and liberal education. “It’s our opportunity to present accurate, factual scientific information to people about a subject that they’re really interested in,”